Read "The Fitzroy Blacksmith, with Apologies to Longfellow" by Andrew Barton Paterson online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Under the spreading deficit, / The Fitzroy Smithy stands; / The smith, a spendthrift man is he, / With too much on his hands; / But the muscles of his brawny jaw / Are strong as iron bands.
Pay out, pay out, from morn till night, / You can hear the sovereigns go; / Or you'll hear him singing "Old Folks at Home", / In a deep bass voice and slow, / Like a bullfrog down in the village well / When the evening sun is low.
The Australian going "home" for loans / Looks in at the open door; / He loves to see the imported plant, / And to hear the furnace roar, / And to watch the private firms smash up / Like chaff on the threshing-floor.
Toiling, rejoicing, borrowing, / Onward through life he goes; / Each morning sees some scheme begun / That never sees its close. / Something unpaid for, someone done, / Has earned a night's repose.
The Evening News, 13 February 1904